QUESTION:
As Salaamu Alaikum,
Is it haram to chat with the opposite sex on WhatsApp in a friendly manner? Sending messages about places, food , plants, jokes also messages about oneself.
ANSWER:
Wa Alaikum As Salaam,
It is not permissible to chat in a friendly manner with the opposite sex who is not a Mahram (blood related) to you.
Chatting in this manner opens the door to many different Fitnahs/evils which are seen today. Sometimes a chat begins in a simple, straight forward manner between a male and female, but then goes beyond the limit and reaches to a very serious state in which the laws, teachings and values of Islam are violated. At times, this sort of chatting and communication take place between married persons, which then create problems in their marriages, because the husband or wife becomes suspicious with regards to who his/her spouse is chatting with and the nature of the friendliness displayed on the chat messages. Marriages continue to be affected with this sort of unnecessary and friendly chats, and some have already been broken.
Islam is a religion which teaches its followers to live pure and chaste lives, and encourages them to refrain from every such action through which their names can be tarnished and their conduct can be tainted.
It is for this reason, it cuts every evil from its root, and prohibits many things which can be the cause for sins and indecencies. Chatting in this manner on WhatsApp or other forms of social media, is from among those things which can lead to many evils, and so, the scholars of Islam have stated that it is prohibited.
Therefore, messages of what you have asked about and jokes etc. will not be permissible to be sent through Whatsapp and other forms of social media to those of the opposite sex who are not blood related to you. (Kitab An Nawazil Vol. 17 page 107 Darul Ishaat Karachi 2016).
And Allah Knows best
Darul Ifta
Darul Uloom Trinidad and Tobago
04/11/2019